ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERe' ASSOCIATION 



97 



Mr. Whitney — I would like to know 

 how old they are to be before we can 

 determine that they are a breeder; If 

 two years old they are pretty nearly 

 ready to die; if one year old they have 

 a little time left them in which a man 

 could get some of his money back. 



Accepting an Introduced Queen. 



"Is there any variety of bees that will 

 accept an introduced queen more read- 

 ily than the Italian?" 



Mr. Wilcox — I am not going to ans- 

 wer that question, but ask another 

 along the same line, almost: Which 

 will accept the queen the more readily, 

 old bees or young ones? 



Dr. Miller — ^Young ones. 



Mt. Wilcox — I have seen articles 

 printed in some of our bee papers 

 claiming that old bees would, while 

 my. theory is that the young ones will. 



Upward Hive Ventilation. 



"Is upward hive ventilation ever 

 necessary? If so, how may it best be 

 given?" 



Dr. Miller — The first winter I 

 'wintered bees in my cellar, upward 

 ventilation was entirely necessary; if 

 there had been none the bees would 

 have died. I turned my hives all up- 

 side down; that was the orthodox way 

 — that is Quinby's plan, and it is good 

 today. It does not matter where the 

 ventilation is in the cellar, if you have 

 enough of it. In that case they were 

 entirely closed at the bottom and 

 opened at the top, and in that case, 

 ventilation at the top was absolutely 

 necessary; but I don't believe that it 

 is absolutely necessary if there is a 

 reasonable amount of ventilation be- 

 low, because my hives go into my 

 cellar exactly as they were on the 

 summer stand, sealed up tight, and the 

 bees winter well. 



Mr. Whitney — Does the question 

 mean summer or winter? 



Mr. Howard — ^I had reference to the 

 summer; I gave that question. 



Dr. Miller — I don't believe it is ab- 

 solutely necessary if there is suffiicient 

 ventilation below, but in a great many 

 cases I believe it is a very great ad- 

 vantage. A great many years ago 

 Adam Grimm, of Wisconsin, and a 

 good authority, at this place (before 

 the days of sections) he had boxes on 

 top of his hive, the lid of the hive was 

 tipped up at the back so that the air 



could pass up through there. I can 

 see him there, sitting with teeth to- 

 gether saying in his German way, "I 

 consider that very necessary." For 

 some years I practiced having my sec- 

 tion supers shoved forward so as to 

 allow the air to pass up at the upper 

 back end, but it hindered the finishing 

 of the sections at that point a little, 

 and for some years I abandoned the 

 plan; but I practise it now a good part 

 of the summer, because I think I gain 

 more than I lose by it. The general 

 advantage to the whole is so much. 



Mr. Macklin — ^I tried Dr. Miller's plan 

 of shoving the super ahead on 40 

 colonies that had % inch hive entrance, 

 and in all those 40 colonies I had com- 

 pleted sections except one super, and 

 that had the rear row that were not 

 finished out while all the other 18 sec- 

 tions were completed, and during the 

 summer time the bees clustered around 

 the opening and didn't seem as though 

 they were getting any air at all during 

 the middle of the day, and sometimes 

 stayed there all night and would be 

 clustered there in the morning. 



Dr. Miller— During the past two 

 years the rule seems to have been re- 

 versed. I had some colonies with the 

 ventilation, and some without; I found 

 that in these two years — this year and 

 two years ago (last year was a failure) 

 — I found those colonies that had had 

 \enfilation finished up their sections 

 without ventilation better than those 

 with it, reversing what had been the 

 rule formerly; I tried to account for 

 it in this way: The weather was ex- 

 ceedingly hot, and that gave them a 

 chance to stay there and finish up 

 better. 



Mr, Whitney — My hives I have al- 

 ways used are double walled, tight 

 bottom, consequently if the bees get 

 ventilation in hot weather, it had to be 

 by moving the cover. The cover tele- 

 scoped about 2 inches over the top, and 

 under that cover there would be as 

 many as 3 sections or supers for comb 

 honey. If I moved the cover forward 

 slightly it gave good ventilation, and 

 I always had perfect sections at either 

 end of the section cases, as well made 

 as those in the center and at the side 

 also; that has been my experience; the 

 bees would hang out in great bunches 

 before the hive, before the cover was 

 slid, and would get back in the hive 

 in short order after I moved the cover 

 forward. There would be ventilation 



